BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This Week

CANTON — For nearly five decades, the Community Health Center of the North Country has quietly grown from a small organization focused on caring for underserved residents into a major regional healthcare provider that fills gaps in the North Country’s strained system.

The organization is part of a broader network of community health centers nationwide that now serve roughly one in 11 people in the United States, including about one-third of people living in poverty and one-fifth of uninsured Americans.

Part of the reason community health centers serve such a large population is cost. 

A 2017 study found health centers were able to provide care at a significantly lower price, with families saving as much as 35% per child compared to other healthcare providers. As insurance costs continue to rise and rural healthcare providers face staffing shortages and retirements, affordable access to care has become an increasing concern across the North Country.

Filling the gaps

While many healthcare systems nationwide continue consolidating or reducing rural services, CHCNC appears to be moving in the opposite direction expanding deeper into communities where healthcare access has become harder to find.

CHCNC operates health centers in Canton, Gouverneur, Malone and Ogdensburg, offering primary care, pediatrics, dental care, behavioral health services, women’s healthcare, physical therapy, dermatology and substance use coordination. Officials say the organization’s mission remains straightforward: provide healthcare access regardless of insurance status or income level.

That role has become increasingly important as the North Country’s healthcare system continues to contract.

In recent years, the St. Lawrence Health System was acquired by Rochester Regional Health, which now oversees hospitals in Potsdam, Massena and Gouverneur. In Ogdensburg, Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center became part of the North Star Health Alliance alongside Carthage Area Hospital, an organization that has faced financial challenges amid bankruptcy proceedings.

The region has also seen reductions in clinics and healthcare providers, which has led many families to rely on urgent care services as primary care providers. It’s an alarming trend that can have real consequences.

Communications Director Ray Babowicz said CHCNC closely monitors shifts in local healthcare and works to address gaps left by provider shortages, hospital restructuring and declining access to Medicaid-friendly care.

In many rural communities, federally qualified health centers are among the few providers still accepting uninsured and underinsured patients.

Babowicz said CHCNC has responded by expanding services rather than scaling back. One of the organization’s largest recent expansions has been in pediatric care, with new pediatric providers added in Gouverneur and Ogdensburg as access to children’s healthcare became more limited throughout rural communities.

The organization has also expanded women’s healthcare services as the number of providers in the region continues to shrink.

Babowicz said the scope of services offered today is far beyond the organization’s humble beginnings. He said CHCNC  has about 2,600 women infant and children services clients and provides a school based dental home program which provides screenings, sealant placements and follow ups for children in pre-k to 3rd grades.

Access for all

CHCNC began in 1975 initially operating from a single-room office serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Over time, the organization expanded its staff and services before eventually becoming certified as an Article 28 Diagnostic and Treatment Center, allowing it to broaden care beyond disability services and into the general population.

Babowicz said one of the biggest misconceptions about the organization is that it is open only to people on medicare. In fact the services are open to all and only about 30 percent of its clients have medicaid benefits.

He said there are no restrictions based on race, religion, marital status or financial standing, and patients are accepted regardless of their ability to pay. 

In 2002, the organization became an independent entity governed by a local board of directors. Two years later, it expanded its Canton headquarters to accommodate rapid growth.

A major turning point came in 2007, when health centers in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties received Federally Qualified Health Center designation. The federal designation significantly expanded the organization’s ability to serve residents regardless of income and helped solidify its role as a regional healthcare safety net.

Grown local

Today, CHCNC employs roughly 400 people and serves approximately 16,000 patients, including hundreds of veterans.

That growth has positioned the organization as an increasingly important part of the North Country healthcare landscape.

Residents across many rural communities now face long waits for primary care physicians, shortages of dentists and limited access to behavioral health services. Babowicz said CHCNC has deliberately expanded services to reduce the need for patients to travel outside the region for care.

He said many of the organization’s providers are also longtime North Country residents, creating a level of familiarity and trust that can be difficult to replicate in rural healthcare settings.

“These are people who chose to live in the North Country because they care about the area and the people here,” Babowicz said. “They want to make it a better place to live.”

He says those local connections help strengthen trust between patients and providers in communities where healthcare relationships are often deeply personal.

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